Veran
Veran is one of the three Arashi, the first to appear in the timeline and second to be revealed on Dead on Arrival. Veran is one of the main antagonists of the story as well as one of its most terrifying characters. Description A creature of pure intent without a true corporeal form, Veran appears as a humanoid dressed in a black garb that covers every part of his body. His face is covered by an ornate mask carved out of a skull with a blood-red gem and gold trimmings at its center along with two red stripes that run vertically from the eyes and stop midway across the forehead. Two black abyss rest where his eyes would be, betraying his frightening and inhuman heritage. Since having first been seen, Veran's appearance has widely become one of the most feared and recognized on Genesis. Story 'The First Aspect' Veran was created first-born and messenger of the Arashi at the dawn of time. Veran first appeared to Amoura after her defection from the demon Emperor in the human realm. Stopping time and letting her see a nightmarish vision of the world around her, it spoke of a prophecy she would later interpret as the resurgeance of demons in the human realm. Haunted, Veran would manifest a number of times to Amoura, submitting her to a number of physical and mental tortures in an effort to make her see the true meaning of the Arashi Prophecy, and driving her insane. Feeling responsible for her the Devil Hunter Dante sought and faced Veran alone, nearly dying in the process though saved from a timely intervention by Vergil. Veran would appear a final time to Amoura, utterly shattering her psyche and unleashing her on the mortal realm. She would kill a large number of people before being stopped and taken in by Ranka. The First Aspect would not show itself for a number of years but live on through the dark gift bestowed on Amoura from her encounter with the creature - the Waking Nightmare. 'The Prophecy' It was only after Aper's introduction of the Arashi that Veran's nature as one of them became clear. After the Battle of Aircano, people started paying closer attention to the details of the original prophecy and understanding it's meaning relating to the last Arashi - the End - and the events leading to the destruction of all creation. The Genius, Kyal and Amoura returned to the desert of Jherrazad in hope of finding more evidence on the Arashi. Their trek would lead them to a cave similar to the one where Aper was found. They would stumble upon ancient runic engravings, offering Amoura a vision of the final Arashi. The event activated a chain reaction which killed Kyal and proved nearly as fatal to Amoura while releasing Lucifer from his stone prison. Lucifer would reveal the origin of the Arashi, confirming their allegiance to Yahweh and their ultimate purpose as agents of destruction. Later on, Olivia would steal portions of Amoura's memories in an effort to decipher the prophecy and accurately predict the future, instead making the false assumption that Maricul is the catalyst for the last Arashi, and lose her sanity after being assaulted by the vision of both Aper and Veran during the process. Miracle would pray to Yahweh for guidance and determine that the Arashi are actually not so different in their motives than her own in trying to safeguard humanity. She would deduct that if their conditions are met in regards to the balance of the realms that there would be no need for them to take action; she thus finds the resolve to combat the Arashi despite their affiliation with her God, and helps her friends save Genesis from their threat. 'The Party' The First Aspect returned to Amoura during Sazan's wedding in Crystal City six months after the destruction of Aircano. At first only manifesting to the Night Angel - which led her to cause a ruckus at the reception - Veran quickly revealed its presence to everyone else by turning the ceremony in a nightmarish version of itself and killing a large number of guests. Amidst the chaos, Veran spoke additional verses of the Arashi prophecy signalling that balance within the realm was irreparably shattered and that the End would come to pass. Enraged by his proclamation and role in her sister’s trying life, Zira attacked Veran. The First Aspect saw this as sacrilege, and then decided to make an example of her by forcefully animating her skeleton and ripping it out of her body. Maricul arrived on the scene in time to save Zira and the remainder of the survivors of the city – transporting them to Utopia – before Veran covered Crystal City and a large part of the Crystal Expanse in a black fog, killing everything left standing within it instantly. 'Shattered Prophecy' Seven days passed where Jherra was engulfed by Veran's shadow before the First Aspect began to make a trek for Utopia. Intent on stalling the Arashi, Maricul spawned a demon dimension beween him and his destination; buying the defenders of the realm enough time to prepare and for Amoura to begin her search for the Shroud. A few weeks passed before Veran would set foot on the slopes of the Downward Spiral, by which time Utopia was all but evacuated. Acting as the first line of defense, Clash barred the Arashi passage. Unable to slow Veran in any way, Clash was sealed out of the tower. With no options left to prevent the First Aspect from entering the realm the Utopian mages summoned the Elder God Azatoth in hope of crushing the beast. The deity was quickly destroyed by Veran, revealing itself infinitely greater than even what mortals considered it to be its equal before killing the mages. Meanwhile, Miracle summoned the power of Aper by imbuing herself with Emmanuel's energy; turning herself into the avatar of the Arashi. Abide by the rules set by the Prophecy stating that only one Arashi could exist at a time, Veran vanished, unable to fulfill its duty. 'Chase against Fate' Veran would re-emerge months later in the realm of Utopia, resuming his pursuit of Amoura Ethelia who was trapped in an alternate timeline due to Tajna Rasha. During this event, Veran nearly destroyed the world in order to stop the Night Angel from attaining the Shroud. Using his power, Tajna Rasha was still able to stall Veran enough to allow Amoura entry into the sanctuary of the Arashi where she found the artifact. Due to her discovery of the Shroud acting as the catalyst to bring the final Arashi into existence, Veran was able to enter the shrine. He was frozen in time by the ghost before he could kill Amoura however, and dissipated once she transformed into Eos. Powers Like every other Arashi, Veran has shown a considerable amount of abilities and power. Veran displayed a frightening control over reality since his introduction, allowing him to manipulate and shape matter as he sees fit. Veran usually manifests this power by having his opponent's greatest fears come to life. This warps the immediate area and twists it into a hellish vision of itself - oceans of blood and burning skies being a common and recurring element. Veran also uses this power to torture and kill his enemies to great effect; with Amoura he had her drown and torn apart repeatedly by corpse-like entities only to revive her and continue endlessly. In his fight against Dante, Veran manipulated the power of Cerberus against its wielder, impaling the Devil Hunter on dozens of ice-shards. At Sazan's wedding Veran animated Zira's skeleton, forcing it out of her body in a gruesome display before envelopping Crystal City along with most of the Crystal Expanse in a black fog - killing everything standing within it instantly. Until the events of the wedding Veran had never been attacked directly: When Zira shot him with Ebony the bullet was met with no resistance and went right through Veran as though it had not hit anything at all. During his battle with Clash and the four sorcerers, Veran was assaulted with many weapons and devices all of which failed to even stall him. When Azatoth was finally summoned to bring an end to the Arashi and appearently crushed the First Aspect, Veran violently destroyed the Elder God stating it could not be harmed by a being significantly lesser than itself. Considering Azatoth itself wields untold power, the true extent of Veran's power remain unknown. 'The Waking Nightmare' An after-effect of any confrontation with Veran, the Waking Nightmare is a terrible mind-raking condition that infects and destroys the psyche of its victims by warping their perception of the world. Those afflicted with the nightmare are often brought to insanity, self-mutilation and even suicide. The Waking Nightmare is permanent and incredibly resilient, as even gouging one's eyes isn't enough for the victim to rid itself of the horrifying visions it gives. Those who survive the experience and control their fear are granted limited power over the nightmare, and are in turn able to afflict others. There is no known defense against the Waking Nightmare besides having been exposed and overcoming it. It is important to note that the person's aptitude with the Waking Nightmare is directly proportional to the amount of time they have been exposed and how far from the progenitor they are along the line of victims; Amoura is thus the single most powerful user of this ability as she was the first to discover its propreties and was infected by Veran himself. Quotes *(To Amoura) ‘‘A sacrifice of blood is what it demands for the cleansing of its world.’’ *(To Amoura) ‘‘The evil that was once vanquished shall rise anew. Wrapped in the guise of man shall He walk amongst the innocent, and Terror shall consume they that dwell upon the Earth. The skies shall rain fire, and the seas will become as blood. The righteous shall fall before the wicked, and all of Creation shall tremble before the burning standards of Hell.’’ *(To Zira) ‘‘Sacrifice will redeem sacrilege.’’ *(In the Spiral) ‘‘All of the beauty and horror of infinity bow before that which cannot be named – for I am that which is not.’’ Trivia *Like Aper, Veran is also heard speaking another language - arabic. **Unlike his brother however, Veran mostly speaks english. *The image chosen for Veran is Darth Nihilus from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. *Veran was not originally planned out to be an Arashi: It was only after Aper was created that the two characters became linked. *The Waking Nightmare was an idea developped by Ginny, meaning one of Veran's most iconic and terrifying powers wasn't actually invented by his own player, Gui. *Since his debut on Legacy of Sparda, Veran has become one of the most referenced characters in the story despite have only made a canonical appearance on two forums including Dead on Arrival. *One of Veran's appearances forced the deletion of a thread (read: The Party) due to the content being too mature and in violation of Proboards' TOS closure. **Despite the thread no longer existing it is still considered canon. Category:Arashi Category:Gui Category:Prophecy Category:Antagonist Category:Veran